Vigilance
by Unattributed
Summary: War has broken loose. The reminisce of the House of Winter has split into two sub houses, The new House of Winter and the House of Vigilance. After a battle for Venus, Vigilance decides it's time to find a new den. They send their best Baron, along with the vast majority of their forces to Mercury...
1. Chapter 1

_After the assassination of Draksis, the House of Winter was left scattered and broken. They had fallen from grace. Once one of the most well-armed and fortified of the houses was now left to scavenge for scraps. With their leader dead, Winter divided into two sub houses. The newly founded "House of Vigilance", led by Zarlix, a Baron of Draksis, tried to fight what remained of the fragmented House of Winter, who was now led by Zilkis, The leader of the Kell's guard. After a brutal civil war, the House of Vigilance was left even worse off than it already was. Its leader has been assassinated and one of two Ketch's the house had remaining has been destroyed. A new Kell, Ganakas the Wise, was instated. He made a rash decision, the House of Vigilance needed to leave Venus. They were fighting a war on 5 fronts. They had to worry about the forces of Zilkis, the Vex, the guardians, the remains of the House of Wolves; who hated Vigilance even more than Winter did; and worst of all, the taken. This brutal force wasn't only killing the forces of Vigilance, it was stealing them and making them fight their own men. With this, Ganakas sent his greatest Baron, Yivekis, to Mercury. Ganakas divided his forces, sending 75% with Yivekis to Mercury, and the remaining 25% were to stay and defend until Yivekis could make a proper foothold on Mercury. Ganakas gave Yivekis permission to dispatch his men on the last Ketch, and make way towards Mercury…_

"How far until we've made it into atmosphere" Yivekis said, looking out unto Mercury from his position on the bridge of the Ketch. He knew that this was the last chance for his new house. If he failed to establish landing on this planet, all was lost. He was ready to sacrifice anything for his people. No matter how many lives he had to take. Even if it meant that it was his life that needed to be sacrificed, he would do it.

"Not far now, My Baron" A dreg replied to him.

"Great" He responded. "Remember, our people back on Venus are depending on us to make landing here. If we fail, we might as well tell them to join the ranks of Exile".

"My Baron, we have a major problem" A nervous Vandal spoke from his position. "We have Cabal missiles coming right for us. It's reading 6 of them"

Yivekis was shaken by this. He hadn't a clue that the Cabal had even set up an outpost on Mercury. But his faith wasn't altered in any way.

"I want all excess power diverted to shields. I don't care if you have to disable the damned light, just make sure we aren't shot down. Our people are depending on us".

Yivekis and his men waited with anticipation and nervousness as the missiles came ever closer.

"My Baron, we are in orbit" a Dreg called out in the midst of the panic

"Brilliant" The Baron called out to the crew.

"Seconds away from impact" a Captain called from his position on the bridge

Yivekis held on to the railing in front of him as the Missiles hit the Ketch. The barrage caused chaos inside the bridge. Fallen were knocked from their positions. Some got back up to resume them, while others didn't. After the array of explosions subsided, the Baron spoke to the remainder of his crew.

"Damage report"

"My Baron, we have suffered severe casualties to many of our core systems. Life support is failing. Ether caches are critically damaged. Our defenses our shot as well as our landing gear. The only way we're are landing this thing is by crashing it"

"Damn it all" Yivekis exclaimed, using his blades to slash the railing in front of him.

"My Baron, three more missiles detected. We may not survive this barrage" a Vandal exclaimed.

Yivekis bowed his head.

"I…want all forces to get to the skiff's. I want them all launched before the missiles hit"

His forces began to exclaim over the intercom the order of the Baron. Before long, Skiff's were leaving the Ketch and headed towards Mercury.

Not many were left to pilot the Ketch. Only a few loyal and selfless fallen stayed, along with Yivekis.

"My Baron, who will lead the house now?" a Dreg asked from his position on the bridge.

"I'm not dead yet Dreg" Yivekis replied with a smirk. "Now, if we live this, I'm promoting all of you to Captains"

"What if you already hold the position of Captain?" a Captain asked from his position.

Before Yivekis could respond, a Vandal cried out "Seconds until impact"

The three missiles made contact. They tore the ship in two. What was in the back half of the ship was now separated from the rest. Again, the members on the bridge were flung about. One was flung so vigorously; it went through the glass that separated the members of the bridge from the atmosphere of Mercury. Some fallen were sucked out into the skies of Mercury, while others were able to hang on. Yivekis was one of the lucky ones.

"How close to impact?" He called to his remaining lackeys

"Around 30 seconds" a Dreg called to him

"You think they have any more weapons to use" a Vandal called to the remaining crew.

It was met with no response

"My Baron, though the damage report may be obvious, we've lost our back end. With that, the engines, hangar, sensor's, and life support are shot. We are still lucky to have our ether supply. Its condition hasn't changed since last report. However, our hangar, or what's left of it after the evacuation has been destroyed. The interesting thing though, our communications array is still in working order. If we manage to survive the crash, we can inform Ganakas of our…..situation."

"Thank you, Dreg" Yivekis called to his comrade, with sorrow in his voice.

"Impact in ten seconds" a Vandal proclaimed, as the sands of Mercury came ever closer.

The Baron closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable impact. He could hear the Vandal counting. 3…...2…1…. IMPACT. Yivekis was thrown around the bridge with his comrades. Sand poured into the bridge from the opening in the bridge. He felt its warmth pour over him as things became dark and distant…


	2. Chapter 2

Beachhead

The Baron's eyes fluttered as he began to wake. The crash had spared him. He began to slowly get up from the sand. He looked around what was left of his bridge. Sand had filled most of it. What remained was broken technology. As he got up to his feet, he saw the bodies of some of the fearless fallen that stayed to pilot the Ketch. They had died on impact. Sand had swallowed most of their bodies, exposing only a few bodies part. Yivekis looked down to his arms and feet to see if he had suffered any injuries. As he did this, his lower left arm began to hurt unimaginably. He saw that it had broken at the elbow, and was now almost parallel to the rest of his arm. He took one of his blades and severed the useless arm. He let out a shriek of pain. But, he didn't let the disability hinder him for much longer. He began to walk towards the opening in the bridge where the sand had poured in from. But as he did, he heard two sets of footsteps, running towards him. They were too heavy to be fallen. He drew his blades and backed into the ship. Whatever was out there, wasn't his friend. As he lay in wait, he saw the shadows of the creatures appear. "Cabal" he muttered to himself. The footsteps began to slow down, but they never stopped. He watched as the shadows got bigger. Eventually, he saw two bodies. They were branding the colors of black and orange. Yivekis knew that if he missed this opportunity, he was as good as dead. He had just survived a crash and wasn't about to be shot down by Cabal foot soldiers. But the pain in his arm was still effecting him. He didn't know if he could. But, as soon as the two were too far to retreat, Yivekis struck. He emerged from the shadows and plunged both of his ether blades into one of the Cabal. But, before he could move on to the next Cabal, he was rammed. The other Cabal was swifter than Yivekis. The Cabal pointed his slug rifle at Yivekis. The gorilla made some noise in it language and prepared to fire. Yivekis turned his head, not ready for his death. But, a lone shock pistol shot rang out and hit the Cabal soldier in the head. The solider fell dead. Yivekis slowly opened his eyes. He scanned the bridge to see who had saved his life. He finally laid his eyes on a Dreg, who had his head and an arm out of the sand while the rest of his body remained submerged by the sand. Yivekis got up slowly, still dumbfounded at the turn of events that had occurred. He treaded slowly over to the Dreg that had saved his life. Once he arrived to his savior, he extended on of his arms to assist his companion. The Dreg looked up with a smile, set down his shock pistol and grabbed the hand of the of his Baron.

"Thank you, my Baron" the Dreg spoke to Yivekis

Yivekis pulled firmly on the Dreg's arm and removed him from his sandy asylum.

"No Dreg, thank you" Yivekis replied with a weak smile. "What is your name, Dreg" Yivekis questioned his savior.

"Velkas, my Baron, Velkas"

"Well Velkas" Yivekis began "You have just been promoted to Captain, as soon as we get to the Ether rations".

"My Baron" Velkas interjected. "I suggest that our first priority is to contact the rest of our crew. Right now, we face major oppression by the Cabal. If we don't get reinforcements, we are damned. I will check if the communications systems are still working". With that, Velkas got to work. He began to scuttle around the sand filled bridge and work on terminals. Yivekis was impressed. The small Dreg showed diligence and commitment.

"My Baron, I think that I have something" Velkas called to his superior

Yivekis walked over to where Velkas was stationed.

"I was able to salvage the fractured communications systems" Velkas began. "Unfortunately, the long range communications are totally destroyed. However, most local Eliksni channels are still functional. It should work throughout the planet".

Yivekis approached the comms system.

"It's ready for transmission my Baron. Just place your hand on the button next to the microphone and I will do the rest"

Yivekis did as Velkas said and placed his hand on the button

"This is Baron Yivekis of the House of Vigilance. I am relaying this message to all of my brethren who survived the skirmish. This is a direct order to respond back to this channel. I am in a dire circumstance".

Yivekis finished his statement and moved back away from the systems. But, as soon as he did, a voice came over the comms.

"My Baron, My Baron are you there?"

Yivekis moved back to the communication systems and placed his hand on the button

"Yes, who hails me" Yivekis responded hopeful that the voice would answer him

"My Baron, your alive. Thank the Primes! We have suffered so many causalities. It Captain Anachcus. I was in charge of the aerial units for the Ketch. I have grave news. When we evacuated, we had around 115 Skiffs. During our escape, the Cabal forces began to target us. We lost so many skiffs. I was able to rally 20 skiffs to follow me. We found refuge in an abandoned Cabal firebase. It has been out of commission for probably 3 decades. Out of the 100,000 Eliksni forces we had coming to Mercury, I'd say that only 20,000 are still here with me. However, I do know of other ships that escaped the hell storm that was entering the atmosphere. Now, what kind of assistance do you need?"

"Yes my brother" Yivekis began. "I am within the main Ketch. I need three ships, with around 10 soldiers. There are still some things that we can salvage from this ship. I would like to be reunited with my people before nightfall".

"Anything for you my Baron. I will see you shortly" Anachcus responded. The comms soon fell silent.

Yivekis stepped outside of the Ketch and looked out unto the dunes of Mercury. Velkas followed behind us.

"Velkas, my friend" Yivekis began. "These are the sands that our people will walk on. We will take Mercury. We will overthrow the Cabal here and rule. The other Eliksni houses will be jealous. Once we have utter control of Mercury, we will take back Venus. I have big plans for this house of ours…


	3. Chapter 3

Unification

It wasn't long before Baron Yivekis saw three skiffs zooming towards him and Velkas.

"Alright my friend" Yivekis began. "Let's go and meet the cavalry"

The skiffs landed not too far from the bridge of the ship. From the ship, twelve Eliksni exited. Ten of them were dregs. The others were a vandal and a captain. They all began to approach the Baron and Velkas.

"My Baron" the captain said bowing. With him, all of the others followed his motion.

"Rise" Yivekis spoke firmly. "You must be Captain Anachcus" Yivekis said towards the captain.

"Yes my Baron, that's me" Anachcus said in response.

"Well, it's good to meet you" Yivekis began again. He looked back towards the ship and back towards the Eliksni before him.

"My brothers, our Ketch may be destroyed, but it is salvageable. There are still many things located within the ship that will aid us in our cause. From what I'm aware, our Ether caches are still salvageable. That is our first priority. Next is weapons, then whatever else you can find. With that, let's begin our search".

The group of Eliksni began towards the ship. They all entered through the cockpit. They all looked down the hallway that led from the bridge to the rest of the Ketch.

"I want two dregs stationed outside the ship" Yivekis said to his company. "If any opposition makes itself prevalent, get on the ship intercom. The crash spared our short range communication and our ship comms. The rest of you are with me".

Yivekis, Velkas and the other ten Eliksni began the journey into the ship. But, as they went, it began to get darker and darker.

"Sooner or later, we aren't going to be able to seen anything, my Baron" Anachcus said

But, not long after he said this, two bright lights erupted from amongst the group. The Baron turned to see that the source of the light was coming from the vandal. He had drawn his ether blades, and their blue light illuminated the hallway. Yivekis was impressed.

"That's using your wit, Valnikus" Anachcus said. The other Eliksni followed the Vandal's footsteps, and drew their ether blades and daggers. The crew walked down the desolate and dark hallways. But, with the help of their blades, it didn't take them long to find the ether supply. They approached the door and tried to open it, but it was stuck.

"Well, now what" a Dreg spoke out.

"We open the damn door" Yivekis barked

He stuck both of his blades in the door and began to try to cut a hole in the door. Anachcus, Velkas, and Valnikus followed their leader. The door soon fell. The crew was met with the sight of the Ether storages. Before the Ketch took off for Venus, there were 50 full vats of Ether. It was enough Ether for one ration for an army of 2.5 million. But, when the crew came in only 8 vats. Most of the crew was filled with dread.

"We're supposed to run an army with only this much Ether" a Dreg said bitterly

"We can't do anything with that" another chimed in

"Silence you worms!" Anachcus said turning around to look at the Dregs. Your negligence disgraces the Baron and our glorious Kell Ganakas. If I need to make examples, I surely will"

Baron Yivekis extended a hand to silence Anachcus and the dregs.

"My brothers, we need to get these caches out of here. Two dregs will take one of these vats. Anachcus and I will take one separately. Now, if one of you drops one of the vats, you will pay a hefty price. Once we clear out these vats, we move to the armory. After that, we find whatever else we can and then we leave. I don't want to be out here at night". With that, the dregs began to take the vats and move back out to the ships. It didn't take very long to move the vats. Some dregs had make two trips. While they did this, the others who didn't went and began to move weapons from the armory to the ships. The armory that the Eliksni were raiding wasn't the main armory. They lost that in the separation of the ship. However, Anachcus had the Eliksni raid the main armory before the ship was hit with the second round of missiles. While the dregs were getting the weapons, Yivekis and Velkas were searching the ship for other supplies. They found a few ether extractors and a few inactive shanks. But, they also found a bunch of dead Eliksni. One's who didn't even make it off the ship.

"My baron" Velkas spoke to Yivekis. "Do you think we will be able to survive on this planet? We don't even know if this place holds Ether to extract. We may just be killing ourselves slowly". Yivekis didn't respond at first. He had the same questions, but could draw no answers.

"We will survive this my friend. All land has Ether. Mercury hasn't been populated by our kind, so we are sitting on a reservoir of Ether." Yivekis hoped that this lie would be bought by his Dreg friend. He knew that if he showed weakness, then he wouldn't be taken serious as a leader.

"We need to go back to the others" Yivekis began again. But, as he started back, he bumped into something. He looked down in amazement. It was a servitor. It was dormant, but Yivekis believed that he could make it active again.

"Velkas, help me with this" The two lifted up the orb like robot and began to carry it towards the exit. They made it to where the armory was. But, when they got there, their grips were slipping.

"Anachcus!" Yivekis called out. The Captain came running to the Baron. When he saw what was being carried, he was filled with excitement.

"My Baron!" he exclaimed. "If we can reactivate this, the others will be filled with moral"

Anachcus helped the other two Eliksni carry the servitor out to the skiffs. Yivekis looked out unto Mercury and saw that the sun was sinking below the horizon.

"Anachcus" Yivekis began. "Gather your men and get them on the ship. If they aren't out I the next five minutes, they aren't coming"

The captain ran into the ship and got on the intercom. He hailed for all the dregs to get out to the skiffs. It didn't take long for them to all come scuttling out. Once everyone was on, the skiffs took off across the dunes of Mercury, towards the camps of the Eliksni.


	4. Chapter 4

Governance

Yivekis sat quietly on the skiff. He examined the objects that he had been able to get from the expedition. He had retrieved a few portable Ether extractors, 2 dormant shanks and a few Eliksni traps that he found in the armory. But, he wasn't to focused on these items. He was more intrigued with Velkas and his fiddling with the Servitor. Velkas had made an opening in the top of the Servitor and was doing something within its systems.

"Dreg, get your filthy hands off of that glorious machine" Anachcus barked at Velkas, drawing one of his Ether blades

"Stand down, Captain" Yivekis said to Anachcus. "He's not just a Dreg"

Anachcus obeyed the Baron and sheathed his blade. Velkas smiled at Yivekis and continued his work.

"Velkas" Yivekis began. "How do you know what you're doing? You may end up making the situation worse."

"My Baron, with the upmost respect, I know exactly what I am doing" Velkas began. "I used to serve in the throne room of Draksis. My job was Shank and Servitor repair. And to add, If I do this right, we should have this Servitor working shortly".

Yivekis leaned back in his seat. His friend was more resourceful than he had originally thought. He didn't say anything else to Velkas for the entire ride. He wanted to let his friend work. If Velkas could fix this Servitor, then the rest of his people on Mercury could benefit so much. But, just as Yivekis was in his thoughts, he was pulled back to reality by robotic sounds. He looked at Velkas and the Servitor. Surely enough, he had been able to get the machine working again.

"Got it!" Velkas exclaimed excitedly. He shut the panel that he used to get to the inner working of the Servitor. All of the Eliksni waited in anticipation for the Servitor to do something. At first, it just looked around the crowded skiff. Then it began to move slowly around the skiff.

"Servitor" Yivekis called to the orb like robot. It turned its gaze towards Yivekis.

"What is your name?" The Baron asked.

"I am Selvis-4" the robot responded. "My Prime, where is he?" the robot inquired. No one on the skiff had any answers. They all looked back and forth at each other. They had never even heard of a Servitor under the name of Selvis, let alone a Selvis Prime. But, at the same time they had no clue how old the Servitor was. The Eliksni of House Vigilance stole the ship from Winter during the separation. It was one of the older Ketch's.

"Servitor" Yivekis began "We haven't a clue where your Prime is"

"Then I must report to Drexas, Winter Kell". The Eliksni exchanged puzzled looks again. It even took Yivekis a short while to uncover it. Draksis had been Kell for nearly 75 years, long before most of the Eliksni in this skiff had lived for. Drexas must have been the Kell before Draksis. Yivekis remembered that Ganakas had told him before he dispatched Yivekis to Mercury that the Eliksni will never be satisfied with their leaders. Uprisings against Kell's were common. Yivekis recalled Ganakas calling the Eliksni a "Power hungry race".

"Drexas has been killed. She is no longer with us" Yivekis responded to Selvis

"Alright, then I will report to the new Winter Kell" Selvis responded.

"There is no more House Winter" Yivekis responded swiftly. "They were killed by the Guardians. What remains of Winter is now the House of Vigilance".

"No more Winter?" Selvis said to himself. "Then I serve the Kell of Vigilance. May you tell me who that is?"

"The Kell of Vigilance is on Venus" Yivekis responded to the orb. "He has sent me to establish an outpost on Mercury. You shall serve me until I meet with the Kell".

"Alright" Selvis responded. It continued to float in its placed, surrounded by the Eliksni.

Yivekis was relieved. He had been able to win the trust of the Servitor with his lies.

"We are coming up on the outpost now" The pilot called back to the rest of the crew. Yivekis stood up from his seat. He knew that he would need to establish a strong appearance for his people. Captain Anachcus also stood up.

"My Baron" He began. "Are you ready to see you people?"

"More than ever Anachcus" Yivekis responded.

The ship landed and Yivekis positioned himself at the platform that would soon extend and welcome him to his people. Captain Anachcus stood at Yivekis right side. Yivekis closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Let's do this"

As he said that, to doors opened and Yivekis was met with a vast group of Eliksni. It was silent at first. Then, one lone voice rang out.

"Our Baron" It proclaimed. With this, all of the Eliksni bowed before Yivekis. Yivekis just stood with amazement as the enormous group of Eliksni bowed before him. He turned to look at Captain Anachcus and the other members of his ship, but they too, were bowing before their leader. Yivekis cleared his throat.

"Rise my brothers and sisters" He exclaimed to his people. They all rose but still their eyes were upon Yivekis.

"It's a speech they want" Anachcus whispered to Yivekis.

"My brothers and sisters" Yivekis began. "The road to salvation has been tough. We have fought a brutal war against many unrelenting enemies. Our House lies wounded, sprawled across two planets. We lost many valiant warriors landing on this rock. But by the Prime's we must make their sacrifice worth it! We won't vanish like many other Houses have before us. We may be down now, but with resilience, pride and strength we will prevail. Out of darkness comes light. And I have already begun to see the light that lies within our grasps on the threshold of tomorrow. For, the Primes have gifted us a Servitor". Yivekis moved out of the way to reveal Selvis.

The Eliksni people who were on the brink of an uproar rejoiced at the sight of the Servitor. They had hope to fight again.

"Remember my brothers and sisters" Yivekis began again. "We aren't only fighting for the survival and prosperity of our people here. This is the survival of Ganakas and our people on Venus as well. Without our success, they will be killed by the oppressing forces on Venus!"

With his speech, the Eliksni were in an uproar. They were excited and ready to wage war on the entire galaxy, all because of Yivekis's words.

"Grand speech, my Baron" Anachcus commented.

Yivekis began to walk towards the crowd. They parted the way for him. He looked through the crowd of his people. On each of their faces he saw hope, courage and pride. It made him smile. He entered the old Cabal outpost, with the crowd following him.

"My people" Captain Anachcus began to the crowd. "The Baron has been through oblivion and back. On top of that, you all need to get rested. We need to be ready for any attacks. In the morning, we will form squadrons for scouting, protecting, Ether harvesting and other activities. But tonight, be merry. Our Baron has returned to us safe and secure. We have leadership". The crowd stood in their places for a moment, and slowly began to disperse.

"I should make you Baron" Yivekis said jokingly to Anachcus.

"That would be unnecessary" Anachcus began. "The people out there have the utmost faith in you. But let's get to more pressing matters. We need to establish a committee for you. One to help you govern. No one will be above you. But, governing over a vast population like can be rather hard. But let me remind you that the committee is fully optional"

Yivekis had to think on this. He had never heard of an idea like this. Form his knowledge, Draksis ruled solely, with no help. Same with Zilkis. But, Yivekis didn't want to be anything like these two Kell's.

"Fill me in on your idea" Yivekis said to Anachcus.

"Alright my Baron, what I had in mind was take I form a committee of 3 members. I would be one of them. I have two others in mind. Two Captains immersed in battlefield experie-

Before the Captain could finish, Yivekis raised one of his hands

"Seeing as how it's my committee, I'm putting Velkas on it"

"The Dreg my Baron!? With all due respect, you need military strategies, not low ranking foot soldiers"

"That "Low Ranking foot soldier" saved my life, was able to reunite me wit my people and was ale to revive a Servitor! Now, I've made my decision. You can either obey it or leave"

"Yes my Baron. Myself, another Captain and Velkas will make up your committee".

It was then that the base communication systems went off.

"Captain Anachcus, it's Valnikus. I've found something interesting".

Anachcus moved from Yivekis over to the communication system

"This is Anachcus. What have you found".

"A Cabal base, my Captain"…


	5. Chapter 5

Conquest

"Valnikus" Anachcus began his response. "Would you please repeat. It sounded like you said a Cabal base"

"Your ears don't deceive you my Captain" Valnikus responded. "It isn't to terribly far from my location. I've gone out about 3 kilometers east of the outpost. The base doesn't seem to heavily guarded from the outside. I've been able to spot 7 Cabal foot soldiers guarding the outpost. One of them is a Centurion. I will scout the base for an entry route."

"You will do no such thing" Anachcus barked at the Vandal over the comms. "You will return back to base at once."

"Actually" Yivekis interjected. "I want him to continue to survey the base. If we have Cabal neighbors, I think it's time to uproot them".

"Aye my Baron, I will continue my scouting. Valnikus out."

Anachcus turned around and looked at Yivekis.

"You could be making a mistake" He began. "Your risking the life of my best man."

"Tell me more about Valnikus" Yivekis said sitting down at the Cabal table in the room. Anachcus sat down and looked at Yivekis.

"Before the entire conflict between our men and Zilkis's, Valnikus was part of Draksis's most elite strike team, _Ilium's Dagger_. They were responsible for many missions, from scouting to protection and from assassinations to extracting vital data. He was with the team that freed Askor. They were brought in when no one else could do the job. Valnikus was possibly the best scout that they had. He was also one of their best snipers. He's prided with killing 7 reef guards that almost prevented the rescue of our late Archon Priest. But, what a wasted effort freeing Askor was. But, back to the topic at hand. Valnikus is one of the most successful warriors we have. And he won't take a promotion. I remember that he was offered the role of a Captain, but turned it down saying that "It would make scouting missions a lot harder". He feels as if his Vandal form is the perfect form for whatever he needs to accomplish. So, got all you need?"

"Yes thank you Captain" Yivekis said to Anachcus. "Now, you stay near the comms. I'm going to mobilize a strike team."

Anachcus nodded and stood up. Yivekis began out of the room and towards where the population of Eliksni were gathered…

"Brothers and Sisters" Yivekis began to the Eliksni. "We have found a Cabal base not too far from here. This will be our first act of expansion and conquest. We need to expand our regime. But, at the same time we also must seek vengeance for the dead. The Cabal are responsible for so many lost lives here. We must spill their blood to make up for the blood that have split. Now, I need 40 foot soldiers who are willing to serve not only me, but your Kell and your people."

A sudden outcry of volunteers burst out. So many wanted to fight the Cabal. The Eliksni were hungry for revenge. Nearly 200 Eliksni were ready for the fight and were volunteering. Velkas was one of them.

"That's the spirit" Yivekis said proudly. All of you that are willing to fight, follow me out to the front of the base. I will assess you and will form you up into squadrons. As for the rest of you, we need to begin farming Ether. The seeds we have need to be planted and watched over. I also here that there is a sufficient supply throughout Mercury. I want Eliksni on the Extractors and harvesting it. Also, I can't stress how important it is for us for us to get more warriors. We lost so many getting to where we are now. So, I will be blunt, for those of you not fighting or tending to the Ether, get busy on making our warriors of tomorrow. The children of today will be the warriors of tomorrow and the ideas of children of today will become the children of tomorrow. Get to work my people." With the conclusion of Yivekis's speech, he was followed outside of the outpost by the 200 volunteers. He ordered them to form up by rank. Overall, many Dregs and Vandals had volunteered. Only 7 Captains had made the choice to fight.

"Alright men" Yivekis began "here's how we are dividing the ranks. Each Captain, including myself and Anachcus, will lead a squad. Three Vandals and ten Dregs will be assigned to each Captain. That puts 126 in squads. The remaining 64 will form the main infantry. You will launch a guerrilla attack on the Cabal, drawing their attention and drawing out their forces. Once they send out their main infantry, the squads will converge on the forces. This will surely overwhelm the Cabal. Now, some of you may have picked out that ten are missing from the force. Well, those ten will be Vandals stationed all around the outside of the base with Wire rifles. If any Cabal try to retreat back into the base of try to run for the hills, these Vandals will make sure no Cabal or Eliksni retreat. I will make my orders clear. There will be no retreat unless I order it. Are we all clear with the orders?"

All of the Eliksni responded with a collective "Yes my Baron." Yivekis smiled.

"Alright then, begin dividing into squads" The Baron proclaimed. With this the Captains began choosing Vandals and Dregs. Velkas moved from the crowd and approached Yivekis.

"I'm with you my Baron"

"Yes in fact you are my friend" Yivekis responded to Velkas.

"My Baron!" called Anachcus sprinting towards the Baron.

"What is it Anachcus?" Yivekis questioned the Captain.

"I just got a report from Valnikus. He is inside the base. He says that it is averagely fortified. Around 75 to 100 Cabal soldiers. He mentioned that they have no vehicles or artillery ." Anachcus then took a moment to assess the platoon that Yivekis had formed.

"This may be enough" Anachcus told Yivekis.

"Here, I will brief you on the way there to the base." Yivekis told the Captain. Yivekis then pulled out three Vandals and ten Dregs and stationed them under Anachcus. Yivekis took the platoon of men to the armory and got them suited. While this occurred, Anachcus went and informed Valnikus that He, Yivekis and the platoon of soldiers were on their way to the Cabal outpost. Once Valnikus was informed and the soldiers were armed, Yivekis mobilized his forces and began to move them towards the base…

"Is everyone in position?" Yivekis asked over one of the portal communicators. Captain Anachcus and all of the other Captains responded with their conformation. "Alright, then let's do this." Yivekis ordered one of the Vandal sharpshooters to fire on a Cabal foot soldiers to signal the main infantry.

"Got it" the Vandal responded. As soon as the words left the Vandal's mouth, he fired his Wire rifle. It made direct impact with the legionary's head. With this, the main infantry charged the base. Yivekis looked down the sights of an Eliksni spyglass to witness the disarray of the battle. The Cabal had totally been caught by surprise. They moved frantically as Eliksni gunfire and shock grenades came in their direction. It wasn't long before most of the Cabal on the outside of the base were either dead or injured. But, with this came the alarm from the base.

"They are sending all they've got from in here" Valnikus whispered from over the comms.

"Good" Yivekis responded as he saw reinforcements begin to protrude from the entrance to the base. Yivekis saw a crowd of Phalanx's moved diligently out of the base towards the main infantry.

"Yivekis" A Vandal called over the comms. "There is no way that we are going to be able to break the phalanx. We are almost out of grenades."

"Just keep them interested." Yivekis called back to the Vandal over the comms device. The Phalanx's began to shoot at the Vandals and Dregs. The main infantry force soon began to rack up dead soldiers.

"I want all snipers looking for a weak spot in their defences." Yivekis barked over the comms device. With this, the Vandal sharpshooters soon began to open fire on the phalanx. At first, it was futile. But, one vandal managed to poke a small hole in the defences by hitting the arm of one of the Phalanx's. The infantry took advantage of this and began hitting uncovered Phalanx's around the weak spot. Soon, the phalanx was punctured, with the infantry charging at broken defenders. This put major tension on the Cabal. With their main defence broken, they began to deploy Legionaries and Centurions. They engaged the invading force head on. The Cabal may have not had the soldier advantage, but they did have the upper hand with weaponry. The Slug rifles and Projection rifles began to tear into the attacking force.

"Pull back" Yivekis said over the comms. "Make them chase you so the cavalry can engage. The infantry did as Yivekis ordered. And with that the Cabal followed. They ran, leaving the safety of their base to pursue the fleeing Eliksni. A grave mistaken. For as soon as they were far enough away from their base, Yivekis ordered the charge. The vast amount of forces from the strike teams hit the Cabal from almost all sides. The Cabal force that had chased the Eliksni now found themselves in a tricky spot. The head Centurion of the force that ordered the chase was among the besieged force. He laid down his rifle and the other Cabal followed his lead. The Eliksni were filled with a mixture of joy and rage. They had won, and were now ready to release vengeance on the Cabal.

"Yivekis" Valnikus said to the Baron over the comms. The Vandal was panting, as if he was sprinting as he said this

"Yes my brother, what is it?" the Baron replied.

"You've got company coming out of the base. Big company." Yivekis turned his attention to the base and saw the shadow of three figures. Two were the size of regular Cabal, but the third was bigger. About twice the size of an average Cabal.

"Colossus." Yivekis exclaimed to his men. He watched as the three appeared from the shadows. The Colossus revved up his Heavy Slug throw and aimed it at the crowd of Eliksni.

"Sniper's, fire on those troops" Yivekis said frantically over the comms. But, before he had time to finish his statement, he saw that the two smaller Cabal had already fallen to the sands. He saw an Eliksni soldier jump onto the back of the Colossus and plunge two Ether blades into the monster. He repeated to taken one out and thrust it into the Cabal juggernaut. It wasn't long before it two was on the floor. The Eliksni were in uproar at what had just occurred. A single Eliksni had just saved the lives of tens of Eliksni. Yivekis rushed over to see who the hero was. Whoever this brave Eliksni was, Yivekis would see that he would rewarded greatly. When Yivekis arrived at the corpses of the three dead Cabal, he found that it was Valnikus who had slain the giant. Valnikus was panting vigorously.

"Can't…say that…I've ever…done that before." Valnikus said between breaths. Yivekis extended a hand to Valnikus, who accepted it.

"Let's go and deal with the Cabal hostages." Yivekis said to the Vandal. As the two were walking over to where the Cabal had been engulfed, they saw that chaos had erupted. They saw that they Cabal were all in a horizontal line, all on their knees with their hands behind their heads. All except for one. It was Centurion. It was away from the group, but it was kneeling. It looked as if it had been beat to a pulp. It had three Ether daggers inside of it. One inside one of the kneecaps, another in his back and another in its shoulder. And over the kneeling Centurion stood Captain Anachcus.

"You Cabal think your so damn brilliant! You all with your military formations and strategy. You think your superior to everything else in the fucking galaxy! Well, how proud and mighty do you feel now?" The Centurion did nothing. With this Anachcus drew another Ether dagger.

"I had a son on the Ketch you shot down. And…and your vermin of a race killed him. You…fucking…killed him. This is for redemption. A virtue your worthless race can't even BEGIN to comprehend." Anachcus raised the dagger to plunge it into the Centurion.

"Anachcus stop" Velkas said aloud, running to try to stop the Captain. But the Dreg wasn't fast enough. Anachcus plunged the dagger in the skull of the Centurion. Yivekis watched and said nothing initially.

"Bring…me their leader…NOW" Anachcus said turning around to face the line of Cabal.

"Captain, you can't do this" Velkas interjected. "We need their knowledge of other Cabal bases in the area, how far they are and what we are dealing with. We can't just go around slaughtering them." Anachcus slowly turned to Velkas and put a hand on one of his Ether blades.

"That awfully sounds like a Dreg questioning the judgement of a Captain, or did I mishear you?" Anachcus asked in response.

"Stand down" Yivekis interjected. Velkas turned his attention to the Baron.

"Yivekis, you can't let him kill all of these Cabal. Without them, we won't have any clue where any of the other bases are. We need them."

"This Dreg of yours is out of line, my Baron" Anachcus said before Yivekis could respond.

"He wants the Cabal to live. Remember how we lost so damn many when they blew our only Ketch out of the sky? It's kind of a hard event not to remember my Baron. These vermin need to pay for what they've done to our people. "Blood for blood". Those are your words. I was informed by a Captain of your speech. Now, are you going to ask questions to these liars and let them live or avenge the dead?" Anachcus's speech was meet with an uproar of cheers from the Eliksni warriors around him.

Yivekis bowed his head. He had a giant decision to make.

"I…will only question three of the Cabal. Let me choose them and then you can slaughter the rest."

"It's a deal my Baron" Anachcus said, agreeing with the terms. Yivekis chose the lead Centurion, another Centurion and a legionary. He, Velkas and the prisoners began back towards the base. But not before Captain threw a dagger into calf of the lead Centurion. Yivekis looked back at Anachcus, who had the biggest grin on his face.

"I want all of you in the new base in an hour." With that, Yivekis turned his back and started towards the new base, with the sounds of Cabal cries of agony and pain coming from behind him…


	6. Chapter 6

Interrogation

"Bring me the lead Centurion" Yivekis called to Velkas from outside the war room of the Cabal base. Velkas, the small dreg escorted the towering Centurion into the room at gun point. From Yivekis's point of view, it appeared that the Centurion could've eaten the small Eliksni. Velkas ushered for the Centurion to sit in one of the chairs at the war room's table.

"Thank you Velkas" Yivekis responded to the Dreg. "Now, please leave us. I'll call you when I want the next piece of filth". Velkas nodded and left the room, sealing the door behind him. Yivekis sized up the Centurion. The brute was big and looked as if he could over power him if he pleased. But Yivekis didn't sense any drive for the Centurion to do such a thing. The Centurion just stared deeply into the table and hadn't looked up at the Baron.

"I don't suppose you speak Eliksni" Yivekis said, initiating the conversation. The Centurion looked up at the Baron and pointed to a rack on the wall with strange devices. Yivekis walked over to the rack and examined the device. He didn't sense anything threatening about it. He took one off the rack and examined it further, trying to devise what it actually was. To him, it only seemed to be three quarters of a metal circle. The Centurion spoke some words in its language and motioned for Yivekis to give him the device. Yivekis looked from the device to the Centurion, debating on what to do. He could be arming a vengeful Centurion or it could be harmless. He put the device on the table and slid the thing to the Centurion, while having a hand on one of his Shock Pistol's. The Centurion picked up the circular device and inserted into his neck. The Centurion fiddle with the device before speaking again.

"Ah, that's better" came a robotic-esc voice from the Centurion.

"Can…you understand me?" Yivekis asked the Centurion.

"Yes I can. The Cabal had a universal language transmitter installed into our armor. It translates any language to ours, as best as it can" Yivekis let out a small smirk as he sat his Shock Pistol on the table.

"Well, I will say that's impressive. But, quite frankly I don't care. I don't give a damn about who you are, what your name is or if you have a family or not. The only reason you are alive and not like the rest of your pathetic allies being beaten by my forces is because I need intel. Anything you tell me that I don't like or is hostile will be met with a lash from my sword. So, shall we begin?" As soon as Yivekis finished his statement the Centurion began to laugh.

"You really think a few sword swings are going to motivate me to release the secrets of my "Glorious Empire"? You are one idiotic fool! You think your little "Swish-Swish" of your sword is going to do anything? The Cabal couldn't care less about my sorry station and its inhabitance. I haven't received one damn shipment of anything for the past 500 sun cycles. Not one new soldier, not one new round of ammunition and not even one medical supply to tend to our sick and wounded. The Vex are everywhere on this planet and have given my men hell nearly every single day of our deployme-"

The Centurion was quickly cut off by the lashing of Yivekis's blade.

"I warned you that rambling like so will result with such punishment. Now, I don't need your life story, your tale of woe nor your word of warning. You will speak when spoken to! Now, how far are your nearest Cabal allies from here?"

Could you please rephrase that last statement?" The Centurion said. "It didn't translate that well to my language.

"Where is the nearest Cabal base?!" Yivekis barked

"You're standing in the nearest base my friend" The Centurion replied with a smug look. This infuriated Yivekis and he lashed the Centurion twice. After recovering from his quick beating the Centurion spat out some blood and responded.

"If you head East about a day then it should be there, though I haven't left this base since my deployment here. It would likely take 3 days by foot though"

"Good" Yivekis said half smirking. "How heavily armed is it"

"I don't have the answer to that" The Centurion replied. He then received another lash.

"By the Emperor, do your worse you vermin" The Centurion barked back at Yivekis. He received two more lashes for this.

"You want to be defiant, fine, we can continue this all day and night" Yivekis barked back at the brute.

"Your torture…it's nothing!" The Centurion said, trying to hold on to consciousness. "Bring your worst, but you won't get anything more out of me".

Yivekis lashed the Centurion 3 more times. The Centurion was bleeding from several places now.

"Is this how you lead your men?" The Centurion said between breaths. "You beat them into submission? What a way to get respect out of them. It's a good thing that ship of yours crashed. Saved those poor souls from having to serve a disgrace of a Tactician like you."

Yivekis stopped his lashing and sheathed his blade. He walked back to where he had been at the beginning of the meeting.

"I think we're done here" Yivekis said in a whispery tone so that the Centurion could just barely hear what he was saying.

"Velkas!" Yivekis called to the Dreg that was outside the door.

The door opened almost instantly.

"Yes my Baron?" Velkas responded.

Yivekis picked up the Shock Pistol from the table and examined it…before shooting the Centurion 3 times, making the Cabal slump over.

"Get me the next piece of waste". Velkas stood in shock for a moment, in taking the scene before him.

"Velkas! Now!" Yivekis barked at the dreg. This snapped the dreg out of his thoughts and motivated him to fetch the next Cabal soldier. He brought in the other Centurion and sat him down in the same seat as the Centurion was…after ejecting the corpse of the deceased out of the chair. Velkas followed the same procedure by exiting the room and closing the door. Yivekis grabbed another one of the translators and slid it across the table to the Centurion.

"So, your superior there decided to play difficult with me. Now, I hope that you don't make the same idiotic decision. So, let's get right to it. Does this base have a communications system?

The Centurion just looked forward without emotion. Yivekis got closer to the Centurion and repeated his inquiry.

"Did you hear me? I said does…this…place…have…a…comm…un…ications…sys…tem!?"

The Legionary just stared forward in silence. Yivekis laughed.

"So, it's going to be like that ey? You think not talking is going to save you? Well, we shall see. To be fair, I've been wanting to deliver a whole lot of judgement on your sorry, Godless, damned, poor fucking excuse of a species".

Yivekis grabbed the legionary by the armor and threw him across the table. The Legionary was taken aback and laid on the table in shock. Yivekis hopped onto the table and onto of the Centurion before it recovered. He began slamming his fists into the Legionary. One blow after another. Harder and harder each time. The Centurion struggled and squirmed trying to break the chain of blows Yivekis was dealing, but he just couldn't. Yivekis began to lose control and just threw fist after fist into many different body parts, ranging from the face, the arms, the ribs, and the stomach. To Yivekis it was, hypnotic. It got to the point that the Centurion's screams were blood wrenchingly eerie. Once the screams grew loud enough that Velkas and the other prisoner could hear, Velkas opened the door and burst into the room, trying to rip his Baron off of the prisoner.

"Yivekis!" Velkas screamed. "Yivekis snap out of this! Look at what you're doing. By the Machine Yivekis!"

Velkas's words were able to wake Yivekis from his morbid trance. Yivekis got up from the Cabal's corpse. Yivekis hadn't even realized that the Centurion had stopped screaming. He took a look at what he had done. The Centurion was completely unrecognizable. One of the arms was at the point of being easily able to just yank off. Its chest felt soft and mussy to the touch, except for a few jigged ribs. Its face had received the worst treatment. The round and oval/circle like face was now flat like the surface of a steppe. It was littered with the remains of flesh, bones and tissue. It was at this time Captain Anachcus walked into the room.

"How is the interrogation going my baron" He walked further into the room and saw the Centurion.

"By the Primes, Yivekis! You surely were angry at this hear fellow. Did his say something?" Yivekis turned to Anachcus.

"He…He didn't say a word" responded the Baron, cold and detached.

"Yivekis, I'll handle this last piece of filth. You need to take a breather my Baron".

Yivekis got up from the table and walked out of the room. He walked back out to the open sands of Mercury and stared off into the distance. He thought about his previous action.

"I shouldn't have done it!" He said to himself. "He had information and I beat that information to death"

Yivekis continued to stare off until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Valnikus

"My Baron, this is urgent. We have a major issue and I need you to follow me!" the vandal said to Yivekis.

"Valnikus, what is it"

"It's a Guardian my Baron!"


End file.
